Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

May 14, 2024

1210m

Mission, BC

Mt. Wardrop is one of those forested but officially-named peaks in the vicinity of Mission and the Chehalis area that do not boast any mountaineering interest. I had noticed this peak for at least 8 years by simply browsing the maps but the summit appeared entirely forested with limited views. It appeared to me the most logical approach was from Statlu Creek FSR to the north and that road had always been gated. The situation changed last year, but I still couldn’t convince myself to give it a go. Then all the sudden Oleg K. posted a trip report on “SWBC Peak Baggers” Facebook group, saying that he managed to drive all the way to Margaret Pass from Norrish Creek valley. I had never considered bagging Mt. Wardrop from that side. This south side approach was also usually gated, but the gate was vandalized half a year ago and the watershed officials hadn’t gotten enough funds/time to make a replacement. I instantly decided to take advantage of that broken gate because by driving to Margaret Pass I could easily snag Mt. Wardrop and possibly “Margaret Peak” as a before-work exercise. I eventually decided to forgo the unofficially named “Margaret Peak” in favour of more sleep but nevertheless managed Mt. Wardrop in under 3 hours round trip.

I made some ambitious plans to take advantage of both Tuesday and Wednesday’s mediocre weather but did have to work in the afternoon and evening of both days. I did some calculations and made that tough decision to skip “Margaret Peak”. That peak does boast enough prominence to qualify as an independent summit, but it’s unofficially named and I’ve never set a goal to bag every single unofficially-named forested bump, so I’m okay to leave “Margaret Peak” for another day or never. In any case I was unable to find a partner for this trip so I drove out alone at around 9 pm on Monday. About an hour later I started the 20-km FSR system in the Norrish Creek valley. There were plenty of pot-holes but the mainline was in a generally decent shape. It was only the last few kilometers pushing up to Margaret Pass that tested the capability of my trusty Taco and my off-roading skills. I knew Oleg drove all the way to the pass so I kept pushing, but I did question my sanity after crawling across a “creek” of boulders using 4Low. Thankfully I avoided bottoming out and the condition was not that terrible the entire time. I eventually made to the pass, turned the truck around and went to sleep. The night was peaceful but there was a shit ton of condensation going on. Because I was sleeping open on the truck’s bed my sleeping bag and cloths were all soaked.

I opted to sleep in till 7 am and leisurely started my day at around 7:40 am. My timing was about 3 weeks later than Oleg’s trip so I knew I’d be dealing with some bushwhacking, but the situation was still worse than I expected. There was basically no snow for the entire traverse up and over the initial few bumps until the final rise towards the summit, and this forest had some consistent prickly underbrush that somehow reminded me Blinch Peak, which was actually not that far away. Thankfully the forest isn’t nearly as steep as on Blinch Peak so I was still able to make quick progress over those bumps. I traversed underneath the NE side of the second bump and finally encountered some snow upon hitting the decommissioned logging roads in between that bump and the summit. I made some quick progress across this snow-covered road, and simply dashed up the south ridge to the top, following the faint tracks made by another team taking advantage of Oleg’s beta. The secondary growth forest on this south ridge was awful even when covered in snow, and as expected there were minimal view. This is one of those peaks that I just had to force myself to do it for the checkmark, and I would never consider coming back for a second time, even if someone offers to pay me to do that.

Not doing any unnecessary lingering I retraced my own footprints back down the south ridge. I got thoroughly soaked from the dew while thrashing through those young trees. That forestry road section provided a bit of relief, but then I also had to deal with the bushwhacking back across those bumps. The downhill orientation meant I was able to move much quicker overall, and did not find the return to be nearly as bad as in the morning. After deciding that I definitely wouldn’t have enough time to do “Margaret Peak” I turned on the engine and gingerly drove the horrible 300 m descent down to the Norrish Creek mainline. I don’t know if I want to drive this spur road again if I ever decide to come back for “Margaret Peak”. I eventually got home in time for lunch, and took a nap before showing up at work.